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UNIS/L/179
18 December 2012

United Nations General Assembly elects new UNCITRAL Member

VIENNA, 18 December (UN Information Service) - The General Assembly on 14 December held elections to fill the one remaining vacancy in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

The Assembly elected Canada as a member of UNCITRAL for a six-year term beginning on 8 July 2013 in addition to the following 29 States which were elected on 14 November 2012: Armenia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Liberia, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Namibia, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Zambia.

The term of the following 26 States members of the Commission continues until 2016: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Fiji, Gabon, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United States and Venezuela. Membership of the Commission until 2016 will also include a further 4 States members from the following States who have elected to alternate their membership during the period: Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Poland and Ukraine.

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The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. Its mandate is to remove legal obstacles to international trade by progressively modernizing and harmonizing trade law. It prepares legal texts in a number of key areas such as international commercial dispute settlement, electronic commerce, insolvency, international payments, sale of goods, transport law, procurement and infrastructure development. UNCITRAL also provides technical assistance to law reform activities, including assisting Member States to review and assess their law reform needs and to draft the legislation required to implement UNCITRAL texts. The UNCITRAL Secretariat is located in Vienna, Austria.